///
yes i will FREELY ADMIT to pro-Tenchi bias. the first first first OVA series was one my two earliest anime dub DVD purchases. and yes, i am that old. i'm old enough to have rented and seen ROBOTECH's dub on VHS in 1990 from Harmony Gold not even six months after the first tapes were sold in the USA. so the first dubbed Tenchi OVAs were on DVD for more than a year before i could find them for sale. but i got them and the Evangelion DVDs as fast as my allowance could buy them.
///
this review's gonna be a BIT spoiler filled! i'll try and generalize as MUCH as possible! plus it'll be tl;dr but tough. read through it. you might learn something.
////
overall for the Tenchi franchise ... what can i say that hasn't been said about previous iterations seasons OVAs movies in the franchise? the TIMELINES/PLOTLINES SUCKS! heh. #1 thing anybody just getting into the Tenchi franchise should know is that. #2 THE MOVIES DON'T COUNT! heh. yeah. they're almost ALMOST all worthless one-off anime-only original movies. MOSTLY! i won't spoil so watch and figure out which is all original and which actually blends into the 'canon storylines'. i'm NOT saying the movies SUCK! i'm saying the Movies are worthless in that they don't tell the Main Storyline of the franchise properly. #3 THE SOURCE(s) have NOT been officially English translated to date! don't rely on fanslations, they're sketchy at best.
///
as to 'TMRO' Season 4 and now Season 5 yes, they're not looking EXACTLY like the oldest and kinda older Tenchi shows/movies. the baseline design changes are minimal at best for characters. only 1 or 2 were entirely revamped. if you watch 'GXP' or 'War On Geminar' before 'TMRO' S4,5 you'll see a few characters with all new looks and some characters never before seen in any Tenchi show. you know why?
.... spoiler-ish here... there's a 'GXP' Story Arc that happens immediately AFTER!!! 'GXP' final episode's Wedding Ceremony that lasts quite a while in the sources. yeah i can't read em, but i've got internet buddies in Japan who've read em and told me as such. this 'GXP' story arc finishes in-and around 'TMRO' S4 when Kenshi is born until around where he's 5y/o. my sources were kinda sorta iffy on this 'GXP' storyline's ending since 'TMRO' S4 hadn't even been in pre-pre production yet when i asked around amongst my Japanese acquaintances.
....
as to story? hell yeah it's damn complex! the original OVAs were done in the 1990's! dang. name me an anime that damn old that's STILL producing episodes today? Dragonball's the only show i know of with that long of a production length. plus there's THREE Main Characters with their own separate but intertwining stories, Kenshi, Tenchi, and Seina. so 'TMRO' S4,5 have sketchy stories? no, not really. there's just TOO MUCH backstory behind all these characters and there's SO MANY characters included in S4 and S5. there's some space fights, some training arcs... heck many of the episodes' meat is ALL training. there's a reason for all these peculiar stories, that's my next paragraph.
///
do we finally learn how 'serious' Tenchi gets with his harem? do we finally learn how serious Kenshi gets with his harem? do we learn just WHY Kenshi's like he is during 'War On Geminar'? yup, we sure do. go watch 'TMRO' S4,5 and learn. is EVERYTHING about Tenchi? NO! is EVERYTHING about Seina? NO! in my opinion? 'TMRO' S4,5 do three main things with the franchise story:
1. retell the wedding of Rea and Nobuyuki that was just barely animated previously.
2. cross-link all the Tenchi and Seina storylines with BACKSTORIES and move those two guys and their harem's storylines forwards.
3. and most important i think after watching 'TMRO' S4,5... give us Kenshi's life from his parents getting married till he arrives on Geminar.
///
art? snort. it's very good! well above average for any TV series out there. these are OVAs folks, they come to us spread out over months and years. plus remember 2020? covid lockdowns all over the world? don't ever forget that pretty much halted ALL anime production in Japan lots of times for lots of projects.
///
sound? as best as i can tell every old OVA and TV series character's got the same Voice Talent. the OP/EP songs are great, the theme pieces in the bodies of the eps are great, the foley and sound effects are great.
///
character, as i've said... there's a buttload of them! some of them don't get diddly for backstory! as i said before there's a whole 'GXP/Seina/his harem' story arc left out of ALL the anime to date. there's characters on screen who've got lines, actions, interactions with little to nothing known about them other than a name. sure this sucks... but without putting dozens of minutes aside for randomly inserted expositions and flashbacks and whatnot the ENTIRE cast just can't be backfilled into two season's worth of OVAs. but the classic Tenchi and Seina characters are alive and well and as fun as ever! and and AND we see maturity amongst the classic rivals inside the harems! it's not all catfights and insults flying and fist-fights and supernatural etc. duels destroying everything around them. plus the girls all grow up and look great! ;) the lil ones get va va voom! and the peculiar ones get ooh la la! and there's mmm ehhh... 15ish years of timeline moving along in 'TMRO' S4,5.
///
enjoyment, hmm... binge the entire franchise EXCEPT 'War On Geminar' BEFORE watching 'TMRO' S4,5... after the final episode of S5 watch 'Geminar' THEN! i watched the entire franchise before watching a single episode of 'TMRO' S4 and loved it. it had been only the third time i'd watched the entire Tenchi franchise in one go-through in 31 years.
//
overall? whew! S4,5 filled in HUGE GAPS i didn't even know existed from the end of the previous OVAs and Geminar and TV series. i can't say S4,5 are the BEST parts of the franchise. but they're still GREAT shows.
///
i hope you enjoyed my review and learned a great deal of things. :D
